It is fairly apparent that if you are reading this article, you know that watches were produced as tools. Pocket watches were developed so people would not have to rely on clock towers. Dive watches were made so time could be known underwater to ensure safe decent and accent while diving. Chronographs were produced for timing.

So when one looks at a watch, especially vintage watches, one can often identify traits of the watch that were built for a functional reason. The Longines President Roosevelt is a good example.

As many readers know, Longines produced an exceptionally wide range of watches during their history. They were competing heavily with many very well-respected watch brands and had a large amount of success. This watch is a rectangular-shaped watch, that is fairly long from top to bottom, known as the President Roosevelt model. What makes this model extremely unique is the fact that the case has lugs that are hinged, and allow for the lugs to move freely on the wrist. We will get into more detail about the case later.

This specific watch was manufactured in 1955, and it appears the President Roosevelt model was produced throughout the 1950’s. The watch has a 10k gold filled case, seen on the top of the caseback and is in overall good condition. As mentioned previously, the case is long and sits large on the wrist. With the hinged lugs, if one had larger wrists, the flexibility of the lugs likely allowed the watch to wear comfortable with any wrist movement.

The dial of the watch has a beautiful square guilloché finishing, with applied hour markers and Longines logo. It also has a subsidiary seconds dial at 6 o’clock. The guilloché finishing was likely done with an engine turning machine, and given the amount of watches Longines produced during this time period, it was probably mass-produced. The overall design of the dial is done to an exceptional quality, with good proportions for the hour markers and subsidiary seconds dial.

Of course, the markings of this watch is where one can discover so much about a watch. As mentioned previously, on the caseback of the watch, one will see the “10k gold filled” stamp indicating the case material. When one removes the caseback and looks on the inside, the Longines-Wittnauer marking can be seen like all watches sold in the USA market. The movement of the watch can tell us more about this story. The watch runs on the caliber 9LT manual wind movement, an interation of the 9L movement.

The caliber 9L was first released in 1932 and was produced in-house - Longines did not source a base movement from a company like Jaeger LeCoultre or buy components to make the movement either. In the 1950’s, Longines introduced the 9LT movement, an updated version of the movement they produced in the previous decade. There were some minor tweaks made to how the seconds complication was driven, and the movement got slightly thinner (some posture the idea that the “T” could stand for “thin” or “thinner”, but this is not confirmed).

When one looks at the movement, the finishing is exquisite. The movement has incredible chamfered finishing on all its plates with gold chatons surrounding the ruby jewels. This quality of finishing really is not typically come in a watch at this price today. On the bridge that suspends the balance wheel, one can see an engraving that reads LXW. This inscription was the import code used by the Longines Wittnauer group when they imported movements from Switzerland to the USA. So, it is likely this movement was put together in Switzerland, shipped and imported to the USA, and then met its watchcase and was then sold.

Now moving back to the case, the last few caseback markings include the number 400 which is the model number for the case. Longines rarely used reference numbers for the watches sold in the USA market but the model number is often quoted as a reference number. Additionally one will see the case serial number. The last marking is of the casemaker - Ross. Ross is referring to Ross Watch Case Corp who were based in Long Island City and were active from 1946 to 1985. They produced cases for many brands, including Longines and Omega - both brands that used very similar business models where they imported movements from Switzerland to the USA and outsourced the production of cases to USA-based casemakers.

Interestingly, based on a couple of President Roosevelt models online, Ross was not the only casemaker to produce this exceptional unique and functional case. There are a few other models, some made in solid 14K gold with this same case. Based on this source it seems like the solid gold models had slightly different dial layouts but were a part of the Longines catalogue in the 1950s.

So not only does this watch have an incredibly unique background in its production, but it also has a caseback inscription that adds to its story. The caseback of the watch has a hand-engraved dedication: “John T Broderick 12-21-62 A.R.S Employees”. Now while the internet is an incredible resource for research, identifying the life of John T Broderick has been challenging. The main issue was the fact that there were many John T Broderick’s living when this watch was likely gifted. So, here are a few possible matches.

It appears that one possible John T Broderick was born in 1888 and spent his life in Chicago, Illinois. Based on Census data from 1950, it seemed that he held the occupation of repairman. If this is the match, John passed away in 1962 in Denver, Colorado, the same year the watch was gifted by his employer.

Another possible match is the father of John Joseph Broderick who spent his life in the Washington and Maryland area. This is a likely match because his father could have worked from Agricultural Research Service: An agency that works to find solutions to agricultural problems. This would then match the A.R.S one sees on the caseback.

It is unfortunate that one cannot link the original owner, but it does provide some additional details about the watch. The inscription likely points to the sale and gifting of the watch to John Broderick in 1962. Interestingly, the movement was manufactured in 1955. So the watch probably sat unsold in the Chicago, Maryland, or a different market until it was purchased by the employees of A.R.S and gifted to John.

Piecing together these details is always a curious process. The President Roosevelt watch is an exceptional example of what Longines was producing during this time period and being a gift makes the watch even more special.

Enjoy!